Reading is FUNdamental!

[trinityofone]

From mciac:

Prose or Poetry?
Prose.

Book(s) you're reading now:
1. Irish Girls About Town by Maeve Binchy and every other female Irish author ever.
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison which, even though I read it in 2000, is taking me forever to finish because the protagonist frustrates me.
3. Retrofitting Blade Runner, edited by Judith B. Kerman--for research purposes, but actually pretty interesting.

Last book you've read:
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff--After reading this, Zach is still very much my Braff of choice.

Next book you're going to buy/read:
Am looking forward to reading The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux or perhaps Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.

Book you've read the most times:
Neverwhere, by far. And I'm looking forward to reading it again on the plane to London!

Longest book you've read:
Close race between The Stand by Stephen King (1168 pages) and London by Edward Rutherfurd (1124 pages). I enjoyed London more.

Book you've read in the shortest time (relative to the number of pages):
I read Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian (496 pages) in less than two days, but there's probably something else I'm not thinking of.

One book you wanted to read that disappointed you:
Tried twice but couldn't get through Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. The style is just so...dense. Am still mad at myself.

Have you read books in a language different from yours?
Have read bits of books in French (including a truly awful Neverwhere translation). Should try to do this more often.

Writer you've read the most books from:
My first impulse was to say Neil Gaiman, just because I've read his books so many times. But I guess the real answer is Patrick O'Brian. I read all 20 of the Aubrey/Maturin books last year.

Some books you like (not necessarily your faves):
Regeneration by Pat Barker
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson

3 books you don't like:
1. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Worst. Suicide Attempt. Ever.)
2. There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (I'm sorry. I'm a bad person. But I HATE it.)
3. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (A lo! And behold! It's really not that good!)

People are gonna be mad at me because of that last one. *eg*

And from everybody and their uncle: Guess the book!

1. The night before he went to London, [name] was not enjoying himself. -- tzeentch (That one's really a give away.)

2. "They made a silly mistake, though," the Professor of History said, and his smile, as [name] watched, gradually sank beneath the surface of his features at the memory. -- ilgattopardo

3. When [name] came out on the porch, the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake--not a very big one.

4. I exist!

5. It was not complicated, and, as my mother pointed out, not even personal: They had a hotel; they didn't want Jews; we were Jews.

6. The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. -- ilgattopardo

7. The warm monsoon blew gently from the east, wafting HMS Leopard into the bay of Pulo Batang. -- roz_mcclure

8. [Name] wakes up in Brezhnev's bed.

9. There was a boy called [full name], and he almost deserved it. -- emidala

10. "Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said [name]. -- ilgattopardo

At least one of these is really mean, but the rest are pretty easy. I know you can do it!

Comments

[darling-effect.livejournal.com]

I hated "Ethan Frome" with intense passion too! Oh my god, it took all my restraint not to rip the book to shreds in front of my professor. "It's unmitigated CRAP!"
But I restrained myself and merely snarked away in the margins.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Margin snark in the balm of the soul. My favorite instance (and I don't actually remember doing this, but the evidence is there) is what I wrote on the inside front cover of my used copy of To the Lighthouse:

Anna Kaufman
read this 12/7/02
All other comments written by the book's
previous owner, who, in my opinion,
was a moron.

(And (s)he was. On the title page, (s)he circled Virgina Woolf's name and wrote "BISEXUAL!")